Floor-polish compositions usually contain a leveling agent, which is an additive used to suppress surface defects. The use of an aliphatic compound as a leveling agent has been desired from the viewpoint of environmental protection in recent years.
For example, JP 6-80933 A discloses a floor-polish composition comprising an adipate ester as a leveling agent. However, the composition disclosed therein does not have a satisfactory leveling property nor does it provide a uniform gloss. Furthermore, this composition is inferior in terms of water resistance, detergent resistance and durability.
JP 59-206476 A discloses a floor-polish composition comprising a polyalkoxylated straight chain aliphatic alcohol as a leveling agent. JP 6-33016 A discloses a floor-polish composition comprising a polyethoxylated aliphatic secondary alcohol as a leveling agent. However, these compositions are inferior in terms of their leveling property and adhesion to floor surfaces, and also have an insufficient ability to form coating films at low temperatures. Furthermore, due to the poor compatibility of the leveling agent with the water-insoluble polymer used as a polishing component, these compositions have another problem in that, when applied to a floor surface and dried, the leveling agent bleeds onto the surface of the coating film.
JP 2003-73628 A discloses a floor-polish composition comprising as a leveling agent a citric acid alkyl ester not containing an ether bond. JP 2003-160763 A discloses a technique of using ester alcohols having no ether bonds, such as texanol. However, these compositions also have an insufficient leveling property and are unsatisfactory for practical use.